Contents

Archaeological remains found in the center of Pinerolo in the early 1970s testify the human presence in the area in prehistoric times[1] Remains of the Romannecropolis of Dama Rossa, found during works for the Pinerolo-Turin highway in 2003, show that the area at the time was the seat of agricultural activities[2]

The toponym of Pinerolo appears only in the Middle Ages, in an imperial diplom dating from 981, by which Otto II confirmed its possession, within the March of Turin, to the Bishops of Turin. The town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the dukes of Savoy. Its military importance was the origin of the well-known military school that still exists today. The fortress of Fenestrelle is nearby. Later, Pinerolo was ruled by the abbot nullius of Pinerolo, who ran the abbey of Abbadia Alpina, even after the city had established itself as a municipality (1247) under the government of Thomas II of Savoy.

From 1235, Amadeus IV of Savoy exercised over the town a kind of protectorate, which became absolute in 1243, and was continued thereafter by either the House of Savoy, or its cadet-branch, the House of Savoy-Acaia.

When French troops invaded Piedmont (1536), Pinerolo was conquered; it remained under French control until 1574. It fell again to France in 1631 with the treaty of Cherasco.

Several industries have their base in this area, particularly mechanical, paper making, chemical and textile industries, and also absorb manpower from the nearby centres.

The leading companies are Corcos, which produces seals for rotating shafts and valves sterns, Raspini, a meat processing company, NN Inc., which manufactures ball bearings, the Trombini Group (ex Annovati), which supplies the furniture industry with chipboard, and PMT Italia, which supplies the pulp and paper industry with paper machines. Moreover, Pinerolo is the trade center of the surrounding mountain area.

The agriculture and the breeding of the livestock are conducted with advanced techniques. Pinerolo is the centre of the community called Comunità Montana Pinerolese Pedemontano.

1.
24th Infantry Division Pinerolo
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The 24th Infantry Division Pinerolo was an infantry division of the Italian Army during World War II. After the end of World War I the Pinerolo Brigade moved to Abruzzo and was garrisoned in the city of Chieti, in 1926 the brigade gained the 255th Infantry Regiment Arezzo and changed its name to XXIV Infantry Brigade. Along with the 18th Artillery Regiment the brigade formed the 24th Territorial Division in Chieti, in 1934 the division and brigade gained the name Gran Sasso and were forthwith known as 24th Infantry Division Gran Sasso and XXIV Infantry Brigade Gran Sasso. In 1935 the division was sent to Eritrea and participated in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the division operated in the Tigray Region and fought in the Battle of Shire. In 1939 the brigade lost the 255th Infantry regiment and was renamed 24th Infantry Division Pinerolo and this binary division consisted of only two infantry regiments and the 18th Field Artillery Regiment. In 1940 the Pinerolo took part in the Italian invasion of France, in January 1941 the division arrived in Albania stabilize the crumbling Italian front during the Greek counteroffensive in the Greco-Italian War. On 18 January 1941 the division was in Berat and entered the front near Këlcyrë. The division fought defensive battles for the month ending with the defense of Tepelenë. The division participated in the Italian Spring Offensive, and participated in an offensive towards Ohrid in Macedonia during the German-led Invasion of Yugoslavia. In June 1941 the division transferred to Larissa in Thessaly to suppress the growing Greek Resistance, during its time in Thessaly the Pinerolo division committed the Domenikon Massacre against Greek civilians. The division continued on duty until the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces of 8 September 1943. In the confusion after the armistice the division was the one in continental Greece to refuse German demands to surrender. After the war on 15 April 1952 the Italian Army raised the Pinerolo Infantry Division again, however on 1 September 1962 the division was reduced to brigade, the remnants of the division were repatriated to Italy in March 1945. Regio Esercito, 24a Divisione di fanteria Pinerolo

2.
Pinerolo Mechanized Brigade
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The Pinerolo Mechanized Brigade is a mechanized infantry brigade of the Italian Army, based in the southern region of Apulia. After the ascension to the throne of Charles Albert of Sardinia on 27 April 1831 a major reform of the military of the Kingdom of Piedmont was undertaken, thus on 13 November 1831 the Pinerolo Brigade was raised with two infantry regiments. These two regiments were the His Royal Highness Regiment of Saluzzo founded during 1672 as Regiment Lullin, from 1 November 1815 to 1821 the HRH Regiment of Saluzzo was known as Saluzzo Brigade and based in the city of Saluzzo. From 1821 to 13 November 1831 the brigade was known as Brigade of Pinerolo and based in Genoa, however in size, a fourth battalion was added to each regiment and the companies personnel strength was increased. By 1839 each regiment fielded four battalions, which in turn fielded 4 companies of 250 men each, in 1839 the regiments of the Pinerolo were numbered and renamed as 13th Infantry Regiment Pinerolo Brigade and 14th Infantry Regiment Pinerolo Brigade. The brigade participated in the First Italian War of Independence fighting in the battles of Santa Lucia, in 1855 the brigade provided two battalions for the Sardinian Expeditionary Corps in the Crimean War. In the Second Italian War of Independence the brigade was employed in the battles of Magenta, in the Third Italian War of Independence the brigade fought in the Battle of Custoza. On 24 May 1915 the brigade advanced to the South of Palmanova into Austrian territory until it met Austrian positions near the village of Selz. During the First Battle of the Isonzo the brigade tried to take the area of Selz, during the Second Battle of the Isonzo the brigade again tried to take the two objects. Having suffered horrendous casualties in the Second Battle of the Isonzo the brigade was out of the front for a two-month rest. In October the brigade returned to the front to participate in the Third Battle of the Isonzo, again the brigade tried to take Sei Busi and Selz and once more the brigade suffered horrendous losses. Reduced to half its strength the brigade was not employed during the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo, on 14 August 1916 the brigade was ordered to conquer the mountains of Pecinka and Veliki Hriback near Lokvica. For three days the soldiers tried to reach the two summits, but having suffered over 2,000 dead by 17 August, the Italian Supreme Command ordered to cease combat operations along the front. Once again the brigade had to be rebuilt and was sent to the city of Romans. However less than a month later the brigade was back at the front for the Seventh and Eighth Battle of the Isonzo. Both times the brigade was tasked with taking Pecinka and Veliki Hriback. Until May 1917 the brigade saw combat, alternating between front line duties and rest in the village of Hudi Log. In the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo the brigade was tasked to the hills of Stari Lokva

3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

5.
Piedmont
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Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.6 million, the capital of Piedmont is Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i. e. ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains”. Other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitants sorted by population and it borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43. 3% mountainous, along with areas of hills. Piedmont is the second largest of Italys 20 regions, after Sicily and it is broadly coincident with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy’s largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains which surround the region on three sides, from the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, and then to the upper, and then to the lower great Padan Plain. 7. 6% of the territory is considered protected area. There are 56 different national or regional parks, one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park located between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic-Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and the Salassi. They were later subdued by the Romans, who founded several colonies there including Augusta Taurinorum, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was repeatedly invaded by the Burgundians, the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks. In the 9th–10th centuries there were incursions by the Magyars. At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire, was subdivided into several marks, in 1046, Oddo of Savoy added Piedmont to their main territory of Savoy, with a capital at Chambéry. Other areas remained independent, such as the powerful comuni of Asti and Alessandria, the County of Savoy was elevated to a duchy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. In 1720, the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, founding what evolved into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont. A new client republic, the Piedmontese Republic, existed between 1798 and 1799 before it was reoccupied by Austrian and Russian troops, in June 1800 a third client republic, the Subalpine Republic, was established in Piedmont. It fell under full French control in 1801 and it was annexed by France in September 1802, in the congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France. Piedmont was a springboard for Italys unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821 and this process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation. However, the efforts were countered by the efforts of rural farmers

6.
Metropolitan cities of Italy
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The metropolitan city is an administrative division of Italy, operative since 2015. In 2009, amendments added Reggio Calabria to the list, the metropolitan areas individuated by the autonomous regions were, Trieste in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Cagliari in Sardinia, Catania, Messina and Palermo in Sicily. On 3 April 2014 the Italian Parliament approved a law that establishes 10 metropolitan cities in Italy, the new metropolitan cities have been operative since 1 January 2015. The metropolitan city is composed by the municipalities that before had been members of the same province, each metropolitan city is headed by a metropolitan mayor assisted by a legislative body, the Metropolitan council, and by a non-legislative assembly, the metropolitan conference. Members of the Metropolitan council are elected and chosen by mayors and city councilors of each municipality in the metropolitan city, the metropolitan conference is composed by the mayors of the municipalities closest to the capital. The main functions devolved to the new cities are, local planning and zoning, provision of local police services, transport. Regions of Italy Provinces of Italy Municipalities of Italy Media related to Metropolitan cities of Italy at Wikimedia Commons

7.
Metropolitan City of Turin
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The Metropolitan City of Turin is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin and it replaced the Province of Turin and comprises the city of Turin and 315 other municipalities. It was first created by the reform of local authorities and then established by the Law 56/2014 and it has been officially operative since 1 January 2015. The Metropolitan City of Turin is headed by the metropolitan mayor, since 1 January 2015 Piero Fassino, as mayor of the capital city, has been the first mayor of the metropolitan city. It has an area of 6,830 km2, and a population of 2,306,676. There are 315 comuni in the metropolitan area – the most of any province or metropolitan city in Italy, the second province with the highest number of comuni is that of Cuneo, with 250. The territory consists of an area to the west and north along the border with France and with the Valle dAosta. The mountainous part is home to part of the Hautes Alpes, the highest point in the Metropolitan City of Turin is the Roc, located in the Gran Paradiso massif on the border with Valle dAosta. Several wildlife reserves are located in the province, including the Sacro Monte Natural Reserve in Belmonte, the Residences of the House of Savoy, located in Turin and several other towns in the province, as well as the Sacro Monte of Belmonte are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Metropolitan City currently has a number of rail and road work sites. Although this activity has increased as a result of the 2006 Winter Olympics, one is the Spina Centrale project which includes the doubling of a major railway crossing the city, the Turin-Milan railway locally known as Passante Ferroviario di Torino. The railroad previously ran in a trench, which will now be covered by a boulevard running from North to South of Turin, in a central position along the city. Porta Susa, on this section, will become Turins main station to substitute the terminus of Porta Nuova with a through station. Other important stations are Stura, Rebaudengo, Lingotto and Madonna di Campagna railway stations, the other major project is the construction of a subway line based on the VAL system, known as Metrotorino. The first leg of the system linked the nearby town of Collegno with Porta Susa in Turins city centre. On 4 October 2007 the line was extended to Porta Nuova and then, in March 2011, to Lingotto. A new extension of the so-called Linea 1 is expected in the near future, furthermore, an alleged Linea 2 is in the pipeline and it is supposed to cross Turin from North to South. As of 2010 also a bicycle sharing system, the ToBike, is operational, the metropolitan area is served by Turin metropolitan railway service

8.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above

9.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year

10.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone

11.
Donatus of Arezzo
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Saint Donatus of Arezzo is the patron saint of Arezzo, and considered a bishop of the city. A Passio of Donatus life was written by a bishop of Arezzo, Severinus and he calls Donatus a martyr, though Donatus is described as a bishop and confessor of the faith in ancient sources rather than as a martyr. An early hagiography of Donatus was already known to Gregory the Great, according to tradition, Donatus was martyred on August 7,362 during the reign of Julian the Apostate and was a native of Nicomedia. According to Severinus’ account, as a child Donatus came to Rome with his family from Nicomedia, Julian rose to the position of subdeacon, Donatus became a lector. On 4 February 362, Julian promulgated an edict to guarantee freedom of religion, Christian chroniclers considered that it had as its purpose the restoration of paganism at the expense of Christianity. Catholic tradition states that Julian also persecuted individual Christians, and that Donatus’ parents, as well as his teacher Pymenius, Donatus escaped to Arezzo and would work with a monk named Hilarian to preach the Christian faith, as well as perform penances and miracles. Donatus was ordained a deacon and priest by Saint Satyrus of Arezzo, bishop of that city, at the death of Satyrus, Donatus was appointed a bishop by Pope Julius I. A man named Anthimus was Donatus deacon, during a celebration of Mass, at the moment of the giving of Communion, in which a glass chalice was being administered, some pagans entered the church and shattered the chalice in question. Donatus, after intense prayer, collected all of the fragments, there was a piece missing from the bottom of the cup, miraculously, however, nothing spilled from the cup. Astounded, seventy-nine pagans converted to Christianity, a similar legend is told of Saint Nonnosus, but the object is a shattered glass lamp. A month after this episode, the prefect of Arezzo, Quadratian, arrested Hilarian the Monk, Hilarian was martyred on July 16,362 and Donatus was beheaded on August 7 at Arezzo. In 1125, some of Donatus relics were brought to the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato on the island of Murano, a large silver reliquary bust of Donatus from the 13th century is now found in the National Museum at Naples. The patron saints of Guardiagrele are Donatus of Arezzo and Saint Emidius, annually between the 6th and 8 August there is a festival celebrating these saints in which the effigy of Donatus is paraded around the streets of Guardiagrele. It is traditional to eat porchetta at this time, San Donato di Arezzo San Donato San Donato Patrono della città di Arezzo Donatus von Arezzo

12.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth

13.
Piedmontese language
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Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 1 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Gallo-Italic languages group of Northern Italy and it is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, which also includes French, Occitan, and Catalan. Today it has an official status recognized by the Piedmont regional government. Piedmontese was the first language of emigrants who, in the period from 1850 to 1950, left Piedmont for countries such as France, Brazil, The United States, Argentina, and Uruguay. The first documents in the Piedmontese language were written in the 12th century, the sermones subalpini, literary Piedmontese developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it did not gain literary esteem comparable to that of French or Italian, other languages used in Piedmont. Nevertheless, literature in Piedmontese has never ceased to be produced, it includes poetry, theatre pieces, novels, in 2004, Piedmontese was recognised as Piedmonts regional language by the regional parliament, although the Italian government has not yet recognised it as such. In theory it is now supposed to be taught to children in school, the last decade has seen the publication of learning materials for schoolchildren, as well as general-public magazines. Courses for people already outside the system have also been developed. On the other hand, the survey showed Piedmontese is still spoken by over half the population. Authoritative sources confirm this result, putting the figure between 2 million and 3 million speakers out of a population of 4.2 million people, efforts to make it one of the official languages of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics were unsuccessful. Piedmontese is written with a modified Latin alphabet, the letters, along with their IPA equivalent are shown in the table below. Certain digraphs are used to represent specific sounds as shown below. All other combinations of letters are pronounced as written, grave accent marks break diphthongs, so ua and uà are /wa/, but ùa is pronounced separately, /ˈya/. Verbal pronouns are absent only in the form and in the Piedmontese interrogative form. The bound form of pronouns, which can be connected to dative and locative particles. The existence of three affirmative interjections, si, sè, é, òj, the absence of the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, for which an alveolar S sound is usually substituted. The existence of an S-C combination pronounced, the existence of a velar nasal, which usually precedes a vowel, as in lun-a moon. The existence of the third Piedmontese vowel Ë, which is very short, the absence of the phonological contrast that exists in Italian between short and long consonants, for example, Italian fata fairy and fatta done

14.
Town
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A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a town varies considerably in different parts of the world, the word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the meaning of the word. An early borrowing from Celtic *dunom, in English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In England, a town was a community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, in Old Norse tun means a place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian. If there was any distinction between toun and burgh as claimed by some, it did not last in practice as burghs, for example, Edina Burgh or Edinburgh was built around a fort and eventually came to have a defensive wall. In some cases, town is a name for city or village. Sometimes, the town is short for township. A places population size is not a determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, as in India at least until recent times, in the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns. Some forms of settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural. Towns often exist as governmental units, with legally defined borders. In the United States these are referred to as incorporated towns, in other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be unincorporated. Note that the existence of a town may be legally set forth through other means. In the case of planned communities, the town exists legally in the form of covenants on the properties within the town. Australian geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age, although there is no official use of the term for any settlement. In Albanian qytezë means small city or new city, while in ancient times small residential center within the walls of a castle

15.
Turin
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Turin is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region and was the first capital city of Italy. The city is located mainly on the bank of the Po River, in front of Susa Valley and surrounded by the western Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 892,649 while the population of the area is estimated by Eurostat to be 1.7 million inhabitants. The Turin metropolitan area is estimated by the OECD to have a population of 2.2 million, in 1997 a part of the historical center of Torino was inscribed in the World Heritage List under the name Residences of the Royal House of Savoy. Turin is well known for its Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-classical, many of Turins public squares, castles, gardens and elegant palazzi such as Palazzo Madama, were built between the 16th and 18th centuries. This was after the capital of the Duchy of Savoy was moved to Turin from Chambery as part of the urban expansion, the city used to be a major European political center. Turin was Italys first capital city in 1861 and home to the House of Savoy, from 1563, it was the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, then of the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the Royal House of Savoy and finally the first capital of the unified Italy. Turin is sometimes called the cradle of Italian liberty for having been the birthplace and home of notable politicians and people who contributed to the Risorgimento, such as Cavour. The city currently hosts some of Italys best universities, colleges, academies, lycea and gymnasia, such as the University of Turin, founded in the 15th century, in addition, the city is home to museums such as the Museo Egizio and the Mole Antonelliana. Turins attractions make it one of the worlds top 250 tourist destinations, Turin is ranked third in Italy, after Milan and Rome, for economic strength. With a GDP of $58 billion, Turin is the worlds 78th richest city by purchasing power, as of 2010, the city has been ranked by GaWC as a Gamma World city. Turin is also home to much of the Italian automotive industry, the Taurini were an ancient Celto-Ligurian Alpine people, who occupied the upper valley of the Po River, in the center of modern Piedmont. In 218 BC, they were attacked by Hannibal as he was allied with their long-standing enemies, the Taurini chief town was captured by Hannibals forces after a three-day siege. As a people they are mentioned in history. It is believed that a Roman colony was established in 27 BC under the name of Castra Taurinorum, both Livy and Strabo mention the Taurinis country as including one of the passes of the Alps, which points to a wider use of the name in earlier times. In the 1st century BC, the Romans created a military camp, the typical Roman street grid can still be seen in the modern city, especially in the neighborhood known as the Quadrilatero Romano. Via Garibaldi traces the path of the Roman citys decumanus which began at the Porta Decumani. The Porta Palatina, on the side of the current city centre, is still preserved in a park near the Cathedral

16.
Chisone
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The Chisone is a 53-kilometre Italian torrent, which runs through Pragelato, Fenestrelle, Perosa Argentina and Pinerolo in the Province of Turin. It is a tributary of the Pellice, which in turn is a tributary of the Po River, although classified as a torrent, there is no period of the year at which the Chisone runs dry. The stream is formed at the foot of Monte Barifreddo in the Cottian Alps, the course then follows a semi-circular path through the Val Chisone passing to the east, the north and then to the west of Monte Albergian. Near Perosa Argentina it receives the waters of the Germanasca, its main tributary, the Chisone enters the Pellice some 15 kilometres to the east of Pinerolo, the most important of the settlements on its course. The valley formed by the river, running from Pragelato to the Padan Plain, is known as Val Chisone. The Italian article cites among its sources, Torino, Istituto geografico centrale, Cartina n.1 Valli di Susa, Chisone e Germanasca, Media related to Chisone at Wikimedia Commons

17.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid

18.
Necropolis
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A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek νεκρόπολις nekropolis, literally meaning city of the dead, the term usually implies a separate burial site at a distance from a city, as opposed to tombs within cities, which were common in various places and periods of history. They are different from fields, which did not have remains above the ground. While the word is most commonly used for ancient sites, the name was revived in the early 19th century and applied to planned city cemeteries, such as the Glasgow Necropolis. Aside from the pyramids which were reserved for the burial of Pharaohs the Egyptian necropoleis included mastabas, naqsh-e Rustam is an ancient necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran. The oldest relief at Naqsh-i Rustam dates to c.1000 BC, though it is severely damaged, it depicts a faint image of a man with unusual head-gear and is thought to be Elamite in origin. The depiction is part of an image, most of which was removed at the command of Bahram II. Four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings are carved out of the face at a considerable height above the ground. The tombs are known locally as the Persian crosses, after the shape of the facades of the tombs, later, Sassanian kings added a series of rock reliefs below the tombs. In the Mycenean Greek period pre-dating ancient Greece burials could be performed inside the city, in Mycenae for example the royal tombs were located in a precinct within the city walls. This changed during the ancient Greek period when necropoleis usually lined the roads outside a city, there existed some degree of variation within the ancient Greek world however. Sparta was notable for continuing the practice of burial within the city, the Etruscans took the concept of a city of the dead quite literally. The typical tomb at the Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri consists of a tumulus which covers one or more rock-cut subterranean tombs and these tombs had multiple chambers and were elaborately decorated like contemporary houses. The arrangement of the tumuli in a grid of streets gave it a similar to the cities of the living. The art historian Nigel Spivey considers the name cemetery inadequate and argues that only the term necropolis can do justice to these burial sites. Etruscan necropoleis were located on hills or slopes of hills. In ancient Rome families originally buried deceased relatives in their own homes because of the Roman practice of ancestor worship, the enactment of the Twelve Tables in 449 BC forbade this, which made the Romans adopt the practice of burial in necropoleis. List of necropoleis Funerary art Catacombs

19.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld

20.
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Otto II, called the Red, was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great, Otto II was made joint-ruler of Germany in 961, at an early age, and his father named him co-Emperor in 967 to secure his succession to the throne. His father also arranged for Otto II to marry the Byzantine Princess Theophanu, when his father died after a 37-year reign, the eighteen-year-old Otto II became absolute ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in a peaceful succession. Otto II spent his reign continuing his fathers policy of strengthening Imperial rule in Germany, Otto II also continued the work of Otto I in subordinating the Catholic Church to Imperial control. Early in his reign, Otto II defeated a revolt against his rule from other members of the Ottonian dynasty who claimed the throne for themselves. His victory allowed him to exclude the Bavarian line of Ottonians from the line of Imperial succession and this strengthened his authority as Emperor and secured the succession of his own son to the Imperial throne. With domestic affairs settled, Otto II would focus his attention from 980 onward to annexing the whole of Italy into the Empire and his conquests brought him into conflict with the Byzantine Empire and with the Muslims of the Fatimid Caliphate, who both held territories in southern Italy. While he was preparing to counterattack Muslim forces, an uprising by the Slavs broke out in 983. Otto II died suddenly in 983 at the age of 28 after a ten-year reign and he was succeeded as Emperor by his three-year-old son Otto III, plunging the Empire into a political crisis. Otto II was born in 955, the son of the King of Germany Otto I. By 957, Otto IIs older brothers Henry and Bruno had died, as well as Otto Is son from his first wife Eadgyth, with his older brothers dead, the two-year-old Otto IIs became the Kingdoms crown prince and Otto Is heir apparent. Otto I entrusted his son, Archbishop William of Mainz, with Otto IIs literary. Margrave Odo, commander of the Eastern March, taught the young prince the art of war. Needing to put his affairs in order prior to his descent into Italy, Otto I summoned a Diet at Worms and had Otto II elected, at the age of six, co-regent in May 961. Otto II was later crowned by his uncle Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne, while Otto I had secured succession of the throne, he had violated the Kingdoms unwritten law that succession rights could only be granted to a child who has reached the age of majority. He was likely motivated by the associated with his expedition into Italy to claim the Imperial title from the Pope. Otto I crossed the Alps into Italy, while Otto II remained in Germany, after three and a half year absence in Italy, Otto I returned to Germany early in 965 as Holy Roman Emperor. In order to give the hope of dynastic continuity after his death, Otto I again confirmed Otto II as his heir on February 2,965, though Otto I was crowned Emperor in 962 and returned to Germany in 965, the political situation in Italy remained unstable

21.
Bishopric of Turin
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The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Turin is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy. Founded in the 4th century and elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 21 May 1515 and its mother church is the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. Since 2010 the Archbishop of Turin has been Cesare Nosiglia, the first bishop of Turin whose name has survived was St Maximus. He can hardly be considered the first bishop of Turin, even though no other bishop is known before him, Maximus, many of whose homilies are extant, died between 408 and 423. It was another Maximus who lived in 451 and 465, in 494 Victor of Turin went with St Epiphanius to France for the ransom of prisoners of war. St Ursicinus suffered at the hands of the Franks and it was then that the Diocese of Moriana was detached from that of Turin. In the time of Cesare Cybo the diocese saw the rise of Calvinism, Cardinal Girolamo della Rovere, in 1564, brought to Turin the Holy Shroud and the body of St Maurice, the martyr. From 1713 to 1727, owing to difficulties with the Holy See, after 1848, Cardinal Luigi Fransoni became notable for his opposition to the Piedmontese Governments reform of the rights of the Church, and in consequence he went into exile. His successors include Gaetano Alimonda and Agostino Richelmy, the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition. Gli antichi Vescovi dItalia, il Piemonte, il cardinal Domenico Della Rovere, costruttore della cattedrale, e gli arcivescovi di Torino dal 1515 al 2000, stemmi, alberi genealogici e profili biografici. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles

22.
Abbot nullius of Pinerolo
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The Diocese of Pinerolo is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the province of Turin of Piedmont, Northern Italy. It is a suffragan of the archbishopric of Turin, pinerolo’s episcopal see was originally an abbey nullius. It was founded in 1064 by Adelaide, Princess of Susa, in the tenth century it belonged to the Marca di Torino and was governed by the abbots of Pinerolo, even after the city had established itself as a commune. From 1235, however, Amadeus IV of Savoy exercised over the town a kind of protectorate which, in 1243, became absolute, and was exercised thereafter either by the house of Savoy. Pinerolo was made a diocese in 1748, at the request of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, in 1805, conformably with the wish of Napoleon I Bonaparte, the diocese was united with the bishopric of Saluzzo, but in 1817 it was re-established as an independent episcopal see. Those of its churches deserving mention are the cathedral and San Maurizio, the 62 parishes are all within the Piedmontese province of Turin Herbermann, Charles, ed. Diocese of Pinerolo. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles

23.
Thomas II of Savoy
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He was the son of Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva. Thomas started his career in the church, as a canon at Lausanne, in 1233, when Thomas I of Savoy died, Thomas, being a younger son, inherited only the lordship of Piedmont, which he later raised to the status of a county. Historians and genealogists have retrospectively dubbed him Thomas II of Savoy in order to him from the other Thomases of the House of Savoy. In 1235, when Thomas left his career, he sought to fully divide his lands from the County of Savoy. His elder brother, Amadeus IV, negotiated with him to grant Thomas additional lands within the county, further, Thomas was encouraged like his other brothers to expand his holdings outside of Savoy. In 1234, Thomas and his brother William escorted his niece, at the urging of Louis IX of France, Thomas married Joanna, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, widow of Ferdinand, Count of Flanders and daughter of the Latin Emperor Baldwin I, in 1237. His loyalties as Count of Flanders were divided between the kings of France and England, in 1239, Thomas traveled to England to pay homage to Henry III, King of England. While there, his niece, Eleanor of Provence, gave birth to Edward, after recognizing Henry as his suzerain, Thomas received an annual stipend of 500 marks. He returned to visit the family around Easter of 1240 and was given a gift which Henry III of England extracted from the lands of Simon de Montfort, the count and countess were very generous toward local churches, and Thomas often followed his wifes lead on such matters. Thomas also understood the needs of the merchant class. This included granting new charters and restructuring the governance in key cities such as Damme, in July 1243, Thomas and his brother Amadeus were ordered by Enzo of Sardinia to join in a siege of Vercelli, which had recently switched allegiances from the Empire to the Pope. Not only was the attack on the city unsuccessful, but the brothers were excommunicated for it, when the brothers wrote to the new Pope Innocent IV to appeal, he granted their request, and further indicated that Thomas would be protected from excommunication without papal authorization. Thomas and Joanna had no issue and she died in 1244, in 1252, Thomas married Beatrice Fieschi, niece of Pope Innocent IV. In 1255, Thomas was protecting his territories in the Piedmont region against the town of Asti, in a battle at Moncalieri, he was taken prisoner and held in Turin. The two cities were seeking to force Thomas to acknowledge their independence from Savoy control, in response, Pope Alexander IV placed an interdict against Turin and Asti, and King Henry III of England imprisoned all Lombards in his kingdom. Louis IX of France arrested 150 Asti merchants at the urging of his wife Margaret, Beatrice of Savoy did the same in her territories in Provence. Thomass brothers, Peter and Philip led an army down from Savoy in 1256, in that settlement, the cities were recognized as independent, though they did not achieve the territorial or economic benefits they were originally seeking. Although he was the brother of Amadeus IV, he never became the Count of Savoy because he predeceased his nephew, Boniface

24.
Amadeus IV of Savoy
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Amadeus IV was Count of Savoy from 1233 to 1253. Amadeus was born in Montmélian, Savoie, the legitimate heir of Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva, he had however to fight with his brothers for the inheritance of Savoy lands after their fathers death. Together with his brother, Thomas, he fought against the communes of Turin and Pinerolo and he was succeeded by his young son Boniface. As the eldest son of Thomas I of Savoy, Amadeus inherited the County, however, his brothers Peter and Aymon demanded that he divide the territories and give them their share. In July 1234, he and his brother William convened a meeting at Château de Chillon. While both sides arrived with armed troops, William was able to negotiate a treaty between the brothers and this treaty kept the lands intact, but recognized the authority of the younger brothers within certain regions under Amadeus. These territories were on the frontiers of Savoy lands, designed to encourage the brothers to expand the county rather than diminish it, when his brother Thomas left his career in the church in 1235, Amadeus granted him similar territories. Before he had a son, Amadeus changed his mind many times regarding his will, initially, he had made his sons-in-law his heirs, but in 1235, he rewrote his will in favour of his brother Thomas. In December of that year, it went back to having his sons-in-law as heirs, then he rewrote the will in favour of Thomas. In March 1239, his daughters convinced him to return it to their favour, on 4 November 1240, Thomas returned and persuaded him to rewrite the will in his brothers favour again. When Thomas left, once again the will was reversed and his final will was written in 1252, leaving the title and nearly everything to his son, Boniface, and naming his brother Thomas as regent and second in line for the title. Amadeus faced many challenges in balancing the demands of the powers in Europe at that time. Then with his brothers, he led troops as part of the siege of Brescia, in July 1243, Amadeus and his brother Thomas were ordered by Enzo of Sardinia to join him in a siege of Vercelli, which had recently switched allegiances from the Empire to the Pope. Not only was the attack on the city unsuccessful, but Amadeus, when the brothers wrote to the new Pope Innocent IV to appeal the excommunication, he granted their request. However, Amadeus was then willing to open the same passes to the imperial army and he also signed a treaty with Henry III on 16 January 1246 which gave rights of passage through the passes to the English in exchange for an annual payment of 200 marks. He had gathered his army in Turin, and ordered those still loyal to him in the kingdoms of Arles, however, the revolt of Parma pulled Frederick back from this plan. That same summer, Amadeus blocked an attempt by the Pope to send 1500 soldiers to the Lombard League, on 8 November 1248, Frederick asked Amadeus and his brother Thomas to go to Lyon and start negotiations for peace. However, their efforts were unsuccessful and war continued until the death of Frederick and he married twice, and each marriage produced children c

25.
Louis XIV
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood

26.
Val Chisone
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The Val Chisone is one of the Occitan valleys of western Piedmont, situated in the Cottian Alps of north-west Italy. Traditionally, the entrances are considered the towns of Pinerolo. It is bounded by the Val di Susa to the north and east, the Val Sangone to the north, the valley is crossed by the torrent from which it takes its name, the Chisone. For centuries the Val Chisone was an object of contention between the Duchy of Savoy and the Kingdom of France, the upper valley was part of the French Dauphiné, while the lower valley was under Savoyard control. In 1631, the shore of the Val Perosa was ceded to Louis XIII of France. The upper Val Chisone was part of the semi-independent French state of the Escartons Republic from 1343–1713, pragelato was one of the five cantons. The Republic was annexed to Savoy in 1713, the valley, together with Val Pellice, is home to a large Waldensian community. The valley has a lot of hiking destinations, sestrieres huge skiing area hosted the alpine skiing. The slopes in Sestriere also regularly host FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events, pragelato hosted cross-country skiing, nordic combined and ski jumping. The ski jumping area was used in the years for other competitions. Pragelato offers 15 km of touristic cross-country pistes from approximately 1,530 to 1,750 metres above sea level, besides the link with Via Lattea through cableway, the municipality has its own alpine ski courses. Some huts are open in winter and are a destination for snowshoe hikers, Rifugio Selleries –2,030 m Photos of the Valley

27.
Valle Germanasca
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The Valle Germanasca is a valley in the province of Turin, Piedmont, north-western Italy run by the Germanasca stream, a right affluent of the Chisone. The valley is a summer tourist resort, its main attraction being its natural landscape. The main resort is Ghigo, a frazione of the commune of Prali, also visited are the Talc mines of the valley, which are of its main resources and are still active. Valle Germanasca is one the Piedmontese valleys in which the majority of the population belongs to the Waldensian Evangelical Church

28.
Val Pellice
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The Pellice is a 53-kilometre Italian torrent, which runs through the Province of Turin. It is a tributary of the Po River, into which it flows near Villafranca Piemonte, the stream is formed at the western slope of Monte Granero in the Cottian Alps and initially runs northwards, before turning east and reaching the comune of Bobbio Pellice. After receiving the waters of several torrents, such as the Ghiacciard, other streams flowing into the Pellice in its later course include the Angrogna and the Chiamogna, near the town of Bricherasio. After the end of its course, the torrent,12 kilometres after Bricherasio. It reaches the Po River at Villafranca, torino, Istituto geografico centrale, Map n.6 - Monviso

29.
Po (river)
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The Po is a river that flows eastward across northern Italy. The Po flows either 652 km or 682 km – considering the length of the Maira, the headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po ends at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice and it has a drainage area of 74,000 km² in all,70,000 in Italy, of which 41,000 is in montane environments and 29,000 on the plain. The Po is the longest river in Italy, at its widest point its width is 503 m, the Po extends along the 45th parallel north. The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin, Piacenza and it is connected to Milan through a net of channels called navigli, which Leonardo da Vinci helped design. Near the end of its course, it creates a delta at the southern part of which is Comacchio. The Po valley was the territory of the Roman Cisalpine Gaul, divided into Cispadane Gaul, the Po begins in the Alps, and is in Italy, and flows eastward. The river is subject to heavy flooding, consequently, over half its length is controlled with argini, or dikes. The slope of the valley decreases from 0. 35% in the west to 0. 14% in the east and it is characterized by its large discharge. The vast valley around the Po is called the Po Basin or Po Valley, in 2002, more than 16 million people lived there, at the time nearly ⅓ of the population of Italy. The two main uses of the valley are for industry and for agriculture, both major uses. The industrial centres, such as Turin and Milan, are located on higher terrain and they rely for power on the numerous hydroelectric stations in or on the flanks of the Alps, and on the coal/oil power stations which use the water of the Po basin as coolant. Drainage from the north is mediated through several large, scenic lakes, the streams are now controlled by so many dams as to slow the rivers sedimentation rate, causing geologic problems. The main products of the farms around the river are cereals including – unusually for Europe – rice, the latter method is the chief consumer of surface water, while industrial and human consumption use underground water. The Po Delta wetlands have been protected by the institution of two parks in the regions in which it is situated, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. The Po Delta Regional Park in Emilia-Romagna, the largest, consists of four parcels of land on the bank of the Po. Executive authority resides in an assembly of the presidents of the provinces, the mayors of the comuni and they employ a Technical-Scientific Committee and a Park Council to carry out directives. In 1999 the park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and was added to Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, the 53,653 ha of the park contain wetlands, forest, dunes and salt pans

30.
Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce

31.
Luigi Facta
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Luigi Facta was an Italian politician, journalist and last Prime Minister of Italy before the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Facta was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont, Italy and he studied law and later became a journalist. He entered politics in 1892 when he was elected to the chamber of deputies for Pinerolo, Facta, a member of the Liberal Party, served as undersecretary of the justice and interior departments in the coalition cabinets for much of his time in Parliament. He was also finance minister from 1910 until 1914 and 1920 until 1921, at the outbreak of World War I, Facta supported neutrality for Italy, but then supported the war when Italy entered it. His son was killed in the war, and he said that he was proud to give a son to his country, Facta was appointed Prime Minister in February 1922. At the time, Italy was in turmoil, and was dealing with Mussolinis fascist insurgency. When Mussolini decided to march on Rome, Facta reacted and wanted to declare the martial law, such a declaration needed to bear the monarchs signature before it could take effect. Facta always refused to explain the reasons that brought the King Victor Emmanuel III not to sign the declaration of emergency. The following day Facta and his government resigned to demonstrate they did not approve the Kings decision, the King then requested that Mussolini come to Rome to form a new government. In 1924, King Victor Emmanuel III named Facta senator

32.
Ferruccio Parri
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Ferruccio Parri was an Italian partisan and politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy for several months in 1945. During the resistance he was known as Maurizio, Parri was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont. A soldier during World War I, he was wounded four times and he studied literature and after the war he was a journalist with the Corriere della Sera. He became active against Benito Mussolinis Fascist regime and joined Carlo and Nello Rossellis group Giustizia e Libertà, in 1926 he was involved in the escape of the reformist socialist leader Filippo Turati, together with Carlo Rosselli and Sandro Pertini. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison and he was arrested several times and banished to the islands Ustica and Lipari. In 1930 he was banished for five years together with other leaders of Giustizia e Libertà. He was also president of the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, in January 1945 Parri was arrested in Milan. He was released in March 1945 in Lugano as part of Operation Sunrise – a series of negotiations between Allen Dulles, head of the U. S. The release of Parri was requested from the Germans as an evidence of good faith and he returned in time to take part in the conclusive phase of the resistance and in the uprising in April. A middle-of-the-road man, he had chosen as the compromise leader of a compromise Cabinet. He was also the Minister of the Interior, when the Liberals withdrew their support from the coalition government, Parri resigned from his position. At the time Parri warned, Beware of civil war, of reopening the door to fascism. There are rumors that Washington and London have no trust in me, the real reason for this lack of trust is that Italy has only a fragile front of antifascism. I hope my successors will follow the only worthy policy for Italy, the Action Party quickly faded from the Italian political scene. Parri founded, together with Ugo La Malfa, the movement Concentrazione Democratica, in 1953 he left the latter party to create the short-lived Unità Popolare with Piero Calamandrei. In 1957, the party merged into the Italian Socialist Party, in 1946, he was elected to the Italian Italian Constituent Assembly and in 1948 to the Italian Senate. In 1958 he was elected in the Senate on the list of the PSI, Parri proposed to form a Parliamentary Antimafia Commission to investigate the Sicilian Mafia. However, in 1962 a Commission was formed to deal with the issue, in 1963, President Giuseppe Saragat appointed Parri senator for life

33.
Italian resistance movement
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It was formed by pro-Allied Italians, following the Allied invasion of the country, the armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces, and German military occupation of northern Italy. The movement is known as the Italian resistance and the Italian partisans. The brutal conflict they took part in is referred to as the Italian Liberation War or as the Italian Civil War, the modern Italian Republic was declared to be founded on the struggle of the resistance. The periods best-known battle broke out in Rome the day the armistice was announced, outnumbered German Fallschirmjäger and Panzergrenadiere were initially repelled and endured heavy losses, but slowly gained the upper hand, aided by their experience and superior Panzer component. The Italian Centauro II Divisions absence from the battle contributed to the German defeat given its German-made tanks and it was composed primarily of ex-Blackshirts and was not trusted. By 10 September, the Germans had penetrated downtown Rome and the Granatieri made their last stand at Porta San Paolo, at 4 pm, General Giorgio Carlo Calvi di Bergolo signed the order of surrender, the Italian divisions were disbanded, and their members taken prisoner. Generals Raffaele Cadorna, Jr. and Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo joined the underground, one of the most important episodes of resistance by Italian armed forces after the armistice was the battle of Piombino, Tuscany. Battle broke out at 21,15 on 10 September, between the German landing forces and the Italian coastal batteries, tanks, and civilian population, sauro and Carbet were scuttled because of the damage they had suffered. The German attack was repelled, by the dawn of 11 September,120 Germans had been killed, Italian casualties had been 4 killed and a dozen wounded, four Italian submarine chasers were also sunk during the fightning. Later in the morning, however, De Vecchi ordered the prisoners to be released, many of the sailors, soldiers and citizens who had fought in the battle of Piombino retreated to the surrounding woods and formed the first partisan formations in the area. In the days following 8 September 1943 most servicemen, left without orders from higher echelons, were disarmed and shipped to POW camps in the Third Reich, however, some garrisons stationed in occupied Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia and Italy fought the Germans. Admirals Inigo Campioni and Luigi Mascherpa led an attempt to defend Rhodes, Kos, Leros, with reinforcements from SAS, SBS and British Army troops under the command of Generals Francis Gerrard, Russell Brittorous and Robert Tilney, the defenders held on for a month. However, the Wehrmacht took the islands air and sea landings by infantry. Both Campioni and Mascherpa were captured and executed at Verona for high treason, on 13 September 1943, the Acqui Division stationed in Cefalonia was ordered by Italian High Command to attack the Germans, despite ongoing negotiations. After a ten-day battle, the Germans executed thousands of officers and those killed in the massacre of the Acqui Division included division commander General Antonio Gandin. Other Italian forces remained trapped in Yugoslavia following the armistice and some decided to fight alongside the local resistance, when the unit finally returned to Italy at the end of the war, half its members had been killed or were listed as missing in action. Bastia, in Corsica, was the setting of a battle between Italian torpedo boats and an attacking German flotilla. Italian soldiers captured by the Germans numbered around 650, 000-700,000, most refused cooperation with the Third Reich despite hardship, chiefly to maintain their oath of fidelity to the King

24th Infantry Division Pinerolo
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The 24th Infantry Division Pinerolo was an infantry division of the Italian Army during World War II. After the end of World War I the Pinerolo Brigade moved to Abruzzo and was garrisoned in the city of Chieti, in 1926 the brigade gained the 255th Infantry Regiment Arezzo and changed its name to XXIV Infantry Brigade. Along with the 18th Artillery

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Identification symbol

Pinerolo Mechanized Brigade
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The Pinerolo Mechanized Brigade is a mechanized infantry brigade of the Italian Army, based in the southern region of Apulia. After the ascension to the throne of Charles Albert of Sardinia on 27 April 1831 a major reform of the military of the Kingdom of Piedmont was undertaken, thus on 13 November 1831 the Pinerolo Brigade was raised with two inf

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Coat of Arms Pinerolo Mechanized Brigade

Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a

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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.

Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is refe

1.
The Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering of ancient history.

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Flag

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The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the Kings of Italy.

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Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor Frederick II, UNESCO World Heritage site

Piedmont
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Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.6 million, the capital of Piedmont is Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i. e. ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains”. Other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitan

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A Montferrat landscape, with the distant Alps in the background.

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Piedmont Piemonte

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The Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi, in Nichelino, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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The Kingdom of Sardinia in 1856.

Metropolitan cities of Italy
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The metropolitan city is an administrative division of Italy, operative since 2015. In 2009, amendments added Reggio Calabria to the list, the metropolitan areas individuated by the autonomous regions were, Trieste in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Cagliari in Sardinia, Catania, Messina and Palermo in Sicily. On 3 April 2014 the Italian Parliament approved

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Metropolitan cities of Italy.

Metropolitan City of Turin
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The Metropolitan City of Turin is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin and it replaced the Province of Turin and comprises the city of Turin and 315 other municipalities. It was first created by the reform of local authorities and then established by the Law 56/2014 and it has been officially operative

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Turin metropolitan area

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Location of the Metropolitan City of Turin

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Metropolitan area of Turin.

Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a mem

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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns

Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a

4.
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.

Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries

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light blue

Donatus of Arezzo
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Saint Donatus of Arezzo is the patron saint of Arezzo, and considered a bishop of the city. A Passio of Donatus life was written by a bishop of Arezzo, Severinus and he calls Donatus a martyr, though Donatus is described as a bishop and confessor of the faith in ancient sources rather than as a martyr. An early hagiography of Donatus was already kn

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The Miracle of Saint Donatus by Jusepe de Ribera, Musée de Picardie.

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The Tarlati polyptych by Pietro Lorenzetti, at the Church of Santa maria della Pieve in Arezzo, 1320, includes St. Donatus, far left.

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Church of Santa Maria e San Donato

French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and

1.
The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.

2.
Regions where French is the main language

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Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya in Lebanon.

Piedmontese language
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Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 1 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Gallo-Italic languages group of Northern Italy and it is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, which also includes French, Occitan, and Catalan. Today it has an official status recog

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Piedmontese linguistic map

Town
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A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a town varies considerably in different parts of the world, the word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the meaning of the word. An early

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Çeşme, Turkey a coastal Turkish town with houses in regional style and an Ottoman Castle.

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The alpine town of Davos in the Swiss Alps.

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Reading, England, is a large town which has unsuccessfully tried to become a city.

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The historical town of Skalica in Slovakia.

Turin
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Turin is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region and was the first capital city of Italy. The city is located mainly on the bank of the Po River, in front of Susa Valley and surrounded by the western Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 892,649 while the population of the a

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From top to bottom, left to right: panorama of the Mole Antonelliana, Valentino Park with the medieval village, Piazza Castello with Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Madama, San Carlo Plaza with the Caval ëd Bronz, the Arco Olimpico and the Lingotto, the sarcophagus of Oki at the Egyptian Museum, a view of the hills, the Po, the Gran Madre, the Monte of Cappuccini and Palatine Towers.

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The Roman Palatine Towers.

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Siege of Turin

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Turin in the 17th century.

Chisone
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The Chisone is a 53-kilometre Italian torrent, which runs through Pragelato, Fenestrelle, Perosa Argentina and Pinerolo in the Province of Turin. It is a tributary of the Pellice, which in turn is a tributary of the Po River, although classified as a torrent, there is no period of the year at which the Chisone runs dry. The stream is formed at the

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Chisone

Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Gr

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Senātus Populus que Rōmānus

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Roman Republic

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According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.

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This bust from the Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of Lucius Junius Brutus.

Necropolis
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A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek νεκρόπολις nekropolis, literally meaning city of the dead, the term usually implies a separate burial site at a distance from a city, as opposed to tombs within cities, which were common in various places and periods of history. They are

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Mastabas in the Giza Necropolis with the Pyramid of Khafre in the background.

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Naqsh-e Rustam. The order of the tombs in Naqshe-e Rustam, from left to right is: Darius II, Artaxerxes I, Darius I, Xerxes I.

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Tumuli are placed along a street in the Banditaccia necropolis of Cerveteri.

Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Ro

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The Holy Roman Empire at its maximal extent, in the 13th century

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Imperial Banner

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An illustration from Schedelsche Weltchronik depicting the structure of the Reich: The Holy Roman Emperor is sitting; on his left are three ecclesiastics; on his right are four secular electors.

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Double-headed eagle with coats of arms of individual states, symbol of the Holy Roman Empire (painting from 1510)

Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Otto II, called the Red, was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great, Otto II was made joint-ruler of Germany in 961, at an early age, and his father named him co-Emperor in 967 to secure his succession to the throne. His father also arra

1.
Otto II

2.
Otto II (left) and Theophano anointed as Emperor and Empress

Bishopric of Turin
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The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Turin is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy. Founded in the 4th century and elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 21 May 1515 and its mother church is the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. Since 2010 the Archbishop of Turin has been Cesare Nosiglia, t

Abbot nullius of Pinerolo
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The Diocese of Pinerolo is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the province of Turin of Piedmont, Northern Italy. It is a suffragan of the archbishopric of Turin, pinerolo’s episcopal see was originally an abbey nullius. It was founded in 1064 by Adelaide, Princess of Susa, in the tenth century it belonged to the Marca di Torino and was go

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Pinerolo Cathedral

Thomas II of Savoy
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He was the son of Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva. Thomas started his career in the church, as a canon at Lausanne, in 1233, when Thomas I of Savoy died, Thomas, being a younger son, inherited only the lordship of Piedmont, which he later raised to the status of a county. Historians and genealogists have retrospectively dubbed him Thomas I

1.
Thomas II

Amadeus IV of Savoy
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Amadeus IV was Count of Savoy from 1233 to 1253. Amadeus was born in Montmélian, Savoie, the legitimate heir of Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva, he had however to fight with his brothers for the inheritance of Savoy lands after their fathers death. Together with his brother, Thomas, he fought against the communes of Turin and Pinerolo and

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Coat of Arms of the Counts of Savoy

Louis XIV
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralizat

1.
Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701)

2.
Louis-Dieudonné, Dauphin of France, in 1643 by Claude Deruet

3.
1655 portrait of Louis, the Victor of the Fronde, portrayed as the god Jupiter

Val Chisone
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The Val Chisone is one of the Occitan valleys of western Piedmont, situated in the Cottian Alps of north-west Italy. Traditionally, the entrances are considered the towns of Pinerolo. It is bounded by the Val di Susa to the north and east, the Val Sangone to the north, the valley is crossed by the torrent from which it takes its name, the Chisone.

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Val Chisone from Grand Puy (Pragelato)

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Punta Rognosa di Sestriere.

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Monte Motta, Sestriere.

4.
River Chisone in Pragelato.

Valle Germanasca
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The Valle Germanasca is a valley in the province of Turin, Piedmont, north-western Italy run by the Germanasca stream, a right affluent of the Chisone. The valley is a summer tourist resort, its main attraction being its natural landscape. The main resort is Ghigo, a frazione of the commune of Prali, also visited are the Talc mines of the valley, w

1.
View of the valley

Val Pellice
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The Pellice is a 53-kilometre Italian torrent, which runs through the Province of Turin. It is a tributary of the Po River, into which it flows near Villafranca Piemonte, the stream is formed at the western slope of Monte Granero in the Cottian Alps and initially runs northwards, before turning east and reaching the comune of Bobbio Pellice. After

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The river at Bibiana.

Po (river)
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The Po is a river that flows eastward across northern Italy. The Po flows either 652 km or 682 km – considering the length of the Maira, the headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po ends at a delta projecting into the Adriatic S

1.
Old iron bridge over the Po, Cremona, Lombardy

2.
The Po along the city of Turin.

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Horse riding along the Po Delta.

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Map of the Po Delta.

Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture

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Façade of Reims Cathedral, France

2.
The interior of the western end of Reims Cathedral

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Overview of Reims Cathedral from north-east

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South side of Chartres Cathedral.

Luigi Facta
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Luigi Facta was an Italian politician, journalist and last Prime Minister of Italy before the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Facta was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont, Italy and he studied law and later became a journalist. He entered politics in 1892 when he was elected to the chamber of deputies for Pinerolo, Facta, a member of the Liberal Party, ser

1.
Cavour

2.
Luigi Facta

Ferruccio Parri
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Ferruccio Parri was an Italian partisan and politician who served as the 29th Prime Minister of Italy for several months in 1945. During the resistance he was known as Maurizio, Parri was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont. A soldier during World War I, he was wounded four times and he studied literature and after the war he was a journalist with the Corri

1.
Ferruccio Parri

Italian resistance movement
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It was formed by pro-Allied Italians, following the Allied invasion of the country, the armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces, and German military occupation of northern Italy. The movement is known as the Italian resistance and the Italian partisans. The brutal conflict they took part in is referred to as the Italian Liberation War or as

1.
L'Homme au Masque de Fer (The Man in the Iron Mask). Anonymous print (etching and mezzotint, hand-colored) from 1789. According to the caption on the original (not seen here) the Man in the Iron Mask was Louis de Bourbon, comte de Vermandois, an illegitimate son of Louis XIV.

2.
The emblem shows a stylized profile of the Mole Antonelliana, drawn in ice crystals in white and blue, signifying the snow and the sky. The crystal web also portrays the web of new technologies and the Olympic spirit of community.